November 27, 2010

Indian governments, federal and provincial both, excel in the profession of killing and doing a good post mortem.

They let the health of administration and law deteriorate till it almost goes to coma. All through [as is alleged about private medical centres], they pretend to treat the patient and revive it, to keep fleecing the public. Then somebody, maybe the media or the judiciary or a good samaritan among the NGOs, finds out that the patient has died. Sometimes the patient falls on the ground when he loses his life, and the world comes to know of the death. Then starts the excellent post mortem and the patient is forgotten, till the death of the next patient is discovered by the public.

Take the case of 2G scam. The government first let Raja take charge of the portfolio when another DMK guy left. Why? Because they smelled good money in the Communications Ministry. Then Raja did all the loot, the fact known to people in his ministry, followed by PMO and Cabinet Secretariat. Nobody did anything, why? Because it suited everybody. Then murmur started, then 3G came, then CAG exposed Raja's misdeeds. Top people in the government and the ruling parties, instead of taking any action, started defending Raja and criticising CAG and anyone else who raised finger at Raja. More pressure from the Supreme Court also did not matter, till dropping Raja became a political virtue for the UPA. What is happening right now? Raja goes unhurt except for losing his throne. Where goes the money taken by him and his cronies? In months and months that have passed, do you think Raja and party would have not destroyed most of the evidence against them, and put the money where it cannot be touched? Even the opposition demand for JPC is being denied, letting Parliament not function. PM is now saying, parliamentary standoff is bad for the country and its image, but would not agree for the JPC! The JPC would also not be able to do anything but embarrassing the government a bit. Whatever happens, the toll is taken. The post mortem is going on and the huge loot will be forgotten like all earlier ones.

Take just one more case, that of fall of a building in Delhi, which killed about 70 people. There was blame game between the Municipal Corportation of Delhi [run by BJP] and the Delhi government [ruled by Congress]. One guy, the owner of the house, was held. This unlucky guy will face charges in the court and will be jailed. The MCD / administration / police officials who allowed him to build floor after floor without taking permission and without taking precaution and those who kept on taking monthly bribe from him just to keep their own mouths shut will all go scot free. Some samples were taken for analysis that will only prove that sub-standard material and engineering were employed, what else? Some compensation was paid to survivors or the dead ones' families; people were evacuated from adjacent houses and it takes some steam out. MCD have excelled in post mortem: they have declared over a thousand flats in that colony illegal! What about the whole city, that has similarly been built illegally? What about the people who are, were and will be responsible for ensuring that no illegal constructions take place? Rest assured, if there is a massive earthquake in Delhi, a major part of the mega city will turn into rubble. Why |Delhi, entire India is built that way.

I can't devote more space to this. The post is already too long for a blog. But let me remind you of some major recent scams that we seem to have forgotten: fodder, Harshad Mehta, Telgi, Satyam, hawala, IPL, scorpene, cash-for-votes, paid news, MCI, Kargil medals, army land scam...